Guidelines

Layout

Page headings should be in title case (Like This). Topic headings should be a level-2 header (++ Foo).

Content

General

Some strongly encouraged general guidelines are:

  • Use clear and concise sentences to explain things.
  • Use proper and complete English and sentences to explain things.
  • Use simple examples to illustrate usage.
  • Use new paragraphs when a particular topic, or sub-topic, ends.
  • Use preformatted text markup ({{...}}) for text that the user will literally type.
  • Avoid using “click here to see X” linking styles; rather just gracefully link a word or two in the sentence. Otherwise use "See X for more information."
  • Avoid creating wiki pages with ambiguous or overloaded names, rather try and prefix it with it's parent category. e.g. use nickserv:Identifying over IdentifyingYourself.
  • Learn how to use wiki syntax properly and effectively. e.g. Playing in the sandbox.
  • Take note of the layout / markup in existing wiki pages.
  • Try not to diverge from the advice offered in Yourself.
  • Use the "Preview" button to proof read your changes and make sure that your markup is correct.
  • Use a spell checker (Firefox has had one built in since Firefox 2.)
  • Find out what words mean. Just because two words sound or look almost the same, doesn't mean they mean the same thing. e.g. “you're” is the short form of “you are”, NOT “your”.
  • Ask another contributor to double proof read your content.
  • Leave useful comments when modifying pages like "fixed spelling mistakes" or "updated examples" and avoid leaving pointless comments like "created page" or "modified page". Rather leave no comment than a pointless one.

New content

As far as creating new content goes, the following advice should be heeded:

  • Every piece of content should have a useful purpose.
  • Use the first paragraph of an article to briefly describe what the topic covers or what a particular command does and is used for.
  • The Shadowfire KB is not “how do i irced 101”.
  • The Shadowfire KB is not “how do i used irc client 101”, client specific help / information should be kept to an absolute minimum.
  • Don't lump information from multiple categories into the same page, rather connect them together by linking to individual pages.
  • Avoid creating articles for doing things that are generally discouraged and / or are not particularly relevant to the network. e.g. Auto-voice on join, how to use colours.

Abuse

You, and only you, are responsible for any actions that happen under your username and will be held accountable should a particular action constitute abuse. It is your responsibility to make sure that your password is kept safe and is sufficiently secure.

Offences

There are currently no official offences but any of the consequences can be applied at an oper's discretion.

Consequences

  • Having your account disabled.
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License